* Architecture is a set of skills and not a role: if you don’t have these skills available for your project, you might get quickly in trouble.

* Becoming an architect is a journey: you should leave your comfort zone and programming expertise area to explore and learn about the other software development domains like requirements, operations or testing.

* An architect focuses on people and not on systems: if you are unable to communicate your architecture, how perfect it might be, you are going to fail. People skills are the most important for an architect.

* Less is more: minimize complexity and use the JDUF (Just enough Up Front Design) design principle.